Mount Morgan

Just south of Rocky, we turned onto the very northern end of the Burnett Highway.  What was the first thing we saw? Another train. And the last we would see, but it was a long one.

The next stop was for fuel at Bouldercombe, but not before we noticed that the town sign had a nice strip of gabion wall across the bottom.  As we climbed the range north of Mount Morgan, we could see all the serious road repairs that had been made since the road was cut by rockslides after the heavy rains of 2011.  And yes, there were lovely gabion walls aplenty.

Partway up the range is Stopford Lookout where we stopped for a look out.  We could see Gracemere in the distance.  James Stopford was a miner and engine driver at the local mine who was dismissed by the company for his union activity.  He later became a branch executive for the Labor Party.  I discovered that there was a geocache at the lookout, but even with three of us looking, it proved elusive.

We descended into Mount Morgan and the town sign there matched the one at Bouldercombe, with its very own collection of riprap at the bottom.  I had researched the cafes as we wanted sandwiches for lunch, not greasy stuff, and the lucky winner was Mumma Kath's Kitchen. It is opposite the seriously impressive technical college building.  We had glimpsed the beautiful railway station en route but didn't have time to check it out this time.

The cheery ladies at Mumma Kath's made our sandwiches to order, and while we waited, we discovered that the cafe had a wonderful little reading nook.  We also discovered that Mount Morgan has flies.  This was the only place where we encountered a fly problem.

After we had eaten, we persuaded Mumma Kath to take our daily group photo.  Thursday's clothing theme was A Touch of Country.  This was probably our least successful attempt, but we had fun trying.

There was only a Vinnies in town and things there were dirt cheap. I bought a pair of shell earrings for a dollar. While the others were being entertained by the woman in Vinnies, I popped across the road to check out the newly refurbished streetscape.  There is bougainvillea arbour, a statue of a young man running the cutter, and a ginormous bell. 

Running the cutter is a local tradition whereby local miners would drink beer in buckets ("cutters") at the end of their shifts, and would pay a lad one penny to take these billies to the pub to be refilled for sixpence.  The tradition has been revived at the Annual Golden Mount Festival, where relay teams run the cutter from and to the statue, with each team's anchor being required to down a cutter of beer at the end.

The 1962 plaque at the Mafeking Bell says it was cast in 1900 from pennies donated by local school children to commemorate the Relief of Mafeking during the Boer War.  The troops were led by Lord Baden Powell who later founded the Boy Scout movement.  Another interesting tale for me to tell the girls.  I researched this one back in Brissie as well.  The bell was certainly cast locally in 1900, but the bit about the pennies is apparently a furphy.  Don't believe everything you read on plaques, lesson two.